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Arrabal v. Crew-Taylor12/3/2004
pointed to the four exceptions to that rule enunciated in Garay and claimed, inter alia, that Garay Exception 3 (claims for necessaries for which the parents are unable or unwilling to pay) was applicable. The Peppers made a proffer, which included the following representations: (1) their monthly living expenses exceeded their net income by approximately $700; (2) the combined value of their retirement and savings accounts was about $29,000; (3) Travis's medical treatment costs about $177,000 per year, but most of these costs were not covered by insurance; (4) services, which Travis needs, but is not covered by their insurance policy, include physical, occupational, speech, and vision therapy, along with expenses for home health aid; (5) insurance failed to cover 95% of all of medical expenses that plaintiffs' doctors believed, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, he needed; (6) total lifetime medical expenses would exceed 7.4 million dollars; and (7) Travis's parents were unwilling to provide for Travis's medical expenses if it meant either selling their home to pay for them or tapping into their retirement and savings, which totaled only $29,000.
In Pepper, the major issue presented was "whether the minor plaintiff . . . made a sufficient proffer of evidence to have the jury consider his claim for pre-majority medical expenses." Id. at 684. The court answered that question in the affirmative.
The doctrine of necessaries has long been a feature of Maryland law. Monumental Bldg. Ass'n. v. Herman, 33 Md. 128 (1870). It is as much a mechanism to protect minors as it is one to protect those who provide them with necessary services and goods. Generally speaking, minors may avoid contracts entered into by them with adults under the presumption that unequal bargaining power always exists between the two, with the power, and therefore, the potential for overreaching, inuring to the adult. Monumental Bldg., 33 Md. at 131. Those who would use their superior age and intellectual ability to unfairly disadvantage a minor are thus left without legal recourse should they do so, and therefore any incentive to engage in underhandedness. These considerations, however, are typically absent when the minor contracts for "necessaries," variously described as "board, apparel, medical aid, teaching and instruction," and other like needs. Id.
Id. at 692-93.
The Pepper Court, citing Garay, ruled that the doctrine of necessaries could, under certain circumstances, render a child liable for medical services provided to him or her. Id. at 693. Nevertheless, inasmuch as "parents are presumed and charged by law to provide for a child's necessaries, a contract entered into by a child is presumed to be for non-necessaries, and therefore voidable, and in some cases, void ab initio." Id. (citing Gardner v. Flowers, 529 S.W.2d 708 (Tenn. 1975)). But, "where the parents are financially unable to provide for needed medical care, the presumption fails, and any such treatment is a necessary for which the infant is contractually liable." Id.
The Pepper Court held:
Under Maryland law, parents . . . have an obligation under ยง 5-203(b)1) of the Family Law Article to provide, inter alia, necessary medical care to their minor children, see Part II., supra, imparting to the parents of an injured child both a primary responsibility to do so, and a primary right to recover medical expenses from a third-party tortfeasor. But when parents are unwilling or truly unable to pay for such expenses, leaving the child or his or her estate potentially bound in contract, principles of reciprocity demand that the child be given the opportunity to recover those expenses from the wrongdoer. Gara
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